MH370: More pieces of debris linked to missing flight but mystery remains

People stand next to a piece of suspected plane wreckage which has been found off the coast of southern Thailand in Nakhon Si Thammarat province, January 24, 2016

Malaysia has said two pieces of debris found in South Africa and Mauritius are "almost certainly" from missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370, more than two years after investigators started putting together the pieces in the puzzle.

A team of international experts had examined an engine cowling piece with a partial Rolls-Royce logo and an interior panel piece from an aircraft cabin which were found on the shores of South Africa and Mauritius earlier in March this year.

Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said on Thursday the team has confirmed that both pieces of debris from South Africa and Rodrigues Island are almost certainly from MH370.

"This complements the results from the previous examination in March during which the team confirmed that the Mozambique debris were almost certainly from MH370," the minister added.

In March, Australian authorities had said the plane debris found near Mozambique coast was highly likely to be part of the wrecked Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which went missing mysteriously in March 1014.

Aviation experts and investigators from Malaysia, Australia and the US had examined the object that washed up on a sandbank off the coast of the African nation.

An international search for the plane is still going on in the southern Indian Ocean. In January last year Malaysia declared Flight MH370, which was carrying 239 passengers and crew, was lost in an accident and all on board were presumed dead.

Experts have said it was not clear if the relatives of the MH370 victims will accept the new finding.

So far the only piece of confirmed debris from the missing Boeing 777 is the flaperon found on the French island of Reunion last year.

Last month, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that the families of four MH370 victims were suing Malaysian Airlines over the flight's mysterious disappearance.